extinction [2018]

i do like me some end-of-the-world type pics.  but somehow, or some why, i'd been avoiding this particular movie starring michael pena as ur-family man peter.  peter has a good job, tho i can't tell you what it is since he labors in some hi-tech factory doing, well, something, in a sterile white corridor.  he is well-married to a pretty & highly intelligent city planner, alice, played by lizzy caplan.  they have two adorable daughters.  the family live in the middle of a city not far from both parents' jobs in a fashionable hi-rise flat.  oh, the tech they use indicates that they live either in an alternate earth, or some time in the future earth.

but the problem is peter who suffers from nightmares so debilitating to affect his work & family life.  peter dreams that his family are slaughtered, he is slaughtered, &/or engaged in a violent rebellion.  against whom or what?  & that is the nub that made me want to throw my popcorn at the screen.  the twist is silly.  & perhaps even unnecessary if there were revisions in the shooting script.

i had figured this movie is another in a long line of alien invasion flicks.  the streaming platforms are agog with these apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic films.  some do a decent job.  some are unspeakable.  i am not familiar with filmmaker ben young who helmed this monsterpiece.  or the writers, or the dp either.  damn!  the concept of the action is a decent one.  even the twist that i dare not reveal for fear of spoiling it for you but also because i would like to excise it from my grey matter.  oh, to unsee what i have just seen!  for it is not what it advertises itself. 

perhaps i am a tad unfair.  young et al. do a credible job with the narrative build-up.  the special fx are pretty damn good.  pena, caplan et al. are game players in a cast of goofball dynamics.  & yet, the writing lacks clarity.  what could the filmmakers & cast do with such a script?  rewrite!  alas but no.

& the denouement suggests a sequel can be easily added to the story.  i sure the hell hope not.  my constitution couldn't bear another iteration of this story.  one viewing of this one picture is enough for me.  but for the totality of the movie i accept;  i endured it so you don't have to.